Partition HDD Using Fdisk

Aim:

To partition a new hard disk drive using FDISK utility

Procedure Overview:

1.      Hardware Required: None.

2.      Software Required: Boot disk containing the FDISK.EXE and FORMAT.COM programs.

3.      Preparation / Warnings:

Ø  To be safe, always run FDISK from DOS only.

Ø  Be extremely careful when using the FDISK program, as one incorrect keystroke can result in major data loss..

Ø  Do not perform this procedure until the system is in good working order. Resolve any hardware conflicts or other issues before commencing.

Ø  I assume that the system has been turned on and booted from the floppy disk.

Ø  FDISK uses binary megabytes when displaying drive and partition sizes, not decimal megabytes. All commands in DOS or within FDISK require you to press {Enter} to select them; I'm not going to repeat it a zillion times within the procedure below.

Procedure:

1.      Plan Partitions: Decide how you want to partition your hard disk. In particular, for large hard disks under Windows 95 OSR2, decide if you want to set up your hard disk with a single large FAT32 partition, or several smaller FAT16 partitions. (You can of course mix these). I provide instructions for doing either of these, but cannot tell you how to set up your system. You must decide based on what makes sense for you. For assistance in making this decision, and more general information on partitioning, cluster sizes and related issues. Most people today prefer to set up a new system using a single FAT32 partition.

2.      Run FDISK.EXE: From the command prompt, enter the command "fdisk". If you have a disk large enough to warrant the use of FAT32, you will be asked if you want to enable "large disk support". Enter "Y" if you want to enable FAT32 or N if you do not want to enable FAT32. If you do enable this, any partitions over 500 MB that you create will be FAT32. Note that if you do not enable FAT32, you will not be able to put your entire hard disk into one partition if it is greater than 2 GB in size.

Result:

Thus the hard disk drive was partitioned successfully using FDISK.